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Pedro Gonçalves

U.S. Fortifies Hawaii to Meet Threat From Korea - WSJ.com - 0 views

online.wsj.com/...SB124535285705228571.html

US North Korea Nuclear Proliferation Military Robert Gates

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 20 Jun 09 - Cached
  • The U.S. is moving ground-to-air missile defenses to Hawaii as tensions escalate between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korea's recent moves to restart its nuclear-weapon program and resume test-firing long-range missiles.
  • Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday that the U.S. is concerned that Pyongyang might soon fire a missile toward Hawaii. Some senior U.S. officials expect a North Korean test by midsummer, even though most don't believe the missile would be capable of crossing the Pacific and reaching Hawaii.
  • Mr. Gates told reporters that the U.S. is positioning a sophisticated floating radar array in the ocean around Hawaii to track an incoming missile. The U.S. is also deploying missile-defense weapons to Hawaii that would theoretically be capable of shooting down a North Korean missile
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  • "We do have some concerns if they were to launch a missile...in the direction of Hawaii," Mr. Gates said. "We are in a good position, should it become necessary, to protect American territory."
  • In another sign of America's mounting concern about North Korea, a senior defense official said the U.S. is tracking a North Korean vessel, the Kang Nam, suspected of carrying weapons banned by a recent United Nations resolution.
  • Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea would launch a long-range Taepodong-2 missile at Hawaii from the Dongchang-ni site on the country's northwestern coast on or close to July 4.
  • Some U.S. officials have said satellite imagery shows activity at a North Korea testing facility that has been used in the past to launch long-range missiles. On a trip to Manila earlier this month, Mr. Gates said the U.S. had "seen some signs" that North Korea was preparing to launch a long-range missile.
  • many U.S. defense officials are highly skeptical that North Korea has a missile capable of reaching Hawaii, which is more than 4,500 miles away from North Korea.
  • North Korean long-range missiles have failed three previous tests in the past 11 years. In the most notable North Korean misfire, a Taepodong-2 missile that Pyongyang launched on July 4, 2006, imploded less than 35 seconds after taking off.
  • The Obama administration, meanwhile, would have to choose whether to attempt to shoot down the missile, a technically complicated procedure with no guarantee of success. An American failure would embarrass Washington, embolden Pyongyang and potentially encourage Asian allies like Japan to take stronger measures of their own against North Korea.
  • The senior defense official said the U.S. would seek to have the North Korean ship suspected of carrying banned arms searched before it reaches its final destination, believed to be Singapore.
  • The ship left North Korea on Wednesday. The official said U.S. or allied personnel wouldn't board the ship by force and would search the ship only with the permission of its crew.
  • North Korea has said it would view any efforts at interdiction as an act of war, and some U.S. officials worry North Korean vessels would use force to prevent U.S., Japanese or South Korean personnel from searching their ships, potentially sparking an armed confrontation.
  • Pyongyang's refusal to honor its agreements has persuaded the Obama administration that North Korea was unlikely to ever voluntarily give up its nuclear weapons. That has led the administration to reject the idea of offering North Korea additional aid in exchange for new North Korean vows to abide by agreements it has repeatedly abrogated.
  • Many Obama administration officials are also skeptical of reopening the so-called six-party talks with North Korea, which also involve China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
  • Instead, the administration is trying to persuade China to take a stronger line with North Korea, a putative ally that is deeply dependent on China. U.S. officials hope China will help search and potentially board suspicious North Korean vessels, but China has been noncommittal.
  • Asked if China had finally accepted U.S. assessments of the threat posed by North Korea, Mr. Gates demurred. "I think that remains to be seen," he said.
Pedro Gonçalves

Cyber Blitz Hits U.S., Korea - WSJ.com - 0 views

online.wsj.com/...SB124701806176209691.html

US South Korea North Korea Cyber Security Cyber Warfare

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 09 Jul 09 - Cached
  • U.S. and South Korean computer networks were besieged for days by a series of relatively unsophisticated attacks, possibly from North Korea, that were among the broadest and longest-lasting assaults perpetrated on government and commercial Web sites in both countries.
  • South Korean officials are investigating whether the attacks originated in North Korea, and a senior U.S. official said the U.S. also is probing North Korea's possible role. U.S. officials noted that the attacks, which appear to have started primarily in South Korea on July 4, coincided with North Korea's latest missile launches and followed a United Nations decision to impose new sanctions.
  • The senior U.S. official said the attacks seemed to have come from South Korea, but it was possible Pyongyang was using sympathizers there. "We're trying to assess whether this is some random attack or the North Koreans might be working through a proxy," said the official.
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  • If a North Korea link is found, it would mark a new turn in Pyongyang's attempts to lash out at the U.S. North Korea has been building up its capability for cyberattacks in the past couple of years, computer security specialists said. North Korea recently increased the number of people in a cyber-warfare unit, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported last month.
  • U.S. government Web sites attacked included those of the Defense Department, National Security Agency, Treasury Department, Secret Service, State Department, Federal Trade Commission and Federal Aviation Administration, according to the cyber-security unit of VeriSign Inc., a computer-security company, and others familiar with the attacks. The attacks appear to have occurred roughly from Saturday to Tuesday.
  • Private sites attacked, according to a cyber-security specialist who has been tracking the incidents, included those run by the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, the Washington Post, Amazon.com and MarketWatch.
  • Most U.S. federal Web sites appeared to be running properly Wednesday. In South Korea, several government sites were down late Tuesday and early Wednesday but many were back to normal by Wednesday afternoon. "There is a connection between what is going on here in the states and what is going on in [South] Korea," said Richard Howard, director of intelligence at VeriSign's iDefense cyber-security unit.
  • North Korea turned more antagonistic after the illness of dictator Kim Jong Il last August and September. The country had done little to prepare for a successor, and Mr. Kim's illness triggered an internal shuffle that apparently raised the influence of hard-line military figures.
  • At the White House, spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said the attacks over the weekend "had absolutely no effect on the White House's day-to-day operations." The only effect, he said, was that some Internet users in Asia may not have been able to access the White House's Web site for a time.
  • President Barack Obama has made bolstering cyber-security a priority. He said in May he would create a new White House cyber-security post, though it hasn't yet been staffed. People familiar with the process say the White House has had difficulty finding someone to take the job.
  • Defense officials confirmed Pentagon networks were struck but said the intrusions were detected quickly and did no real damage. Adm. Mike Mullen, the nation's top military officer, said Pentagon networks are under near-constant attack. "I grow increasingly concerned about the cyber-world and the attacks," he said.
  • James Lewis, a cyber-security specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of the attack, "It's really a test of which U.S. agencies are ready and which aren't."
  • The New York Stock Exchange's parent company, NYSE Euronext, announced at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday that its Web site, but not its trading systems, had been targeted. Exchange officials weren't aware of the attack until notified by the government on Tuesday, said a person familiar with the events. An NYSE spokesman said the exchange's systems detected zero impact either on the Web site or on the separate trading operations. An official of Nasdaq said there wasn't any impact on its business.
  • Those responsible used a method similar to attacks in recent years on the governments of Estonia and Georgia, called a "distributed denial of service" attack. It is a maneuver in which many computers act in concert to overwhelm Web sites.
  • The cyberattacks came as Washington's point man on North Korea sanctions, Ambassador Philip Goldberg, concluded a weeklong trip to China and Malaysia aimed at tightening the financial screws on Pyongyang. Last week, the Obama administration announced sanctions on two North Korea-linked arms companies. The U.S. Treasury last month listed 17 North Korean banks and businesses that it is seeking to constrict financially.
Argos Media

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | N Korea confirms reporters held - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...7956488.stm

North Korea South Korea US

shared by Argos Media on 21 Mar 09 - Cached
  • North Korea has confirmed the arrest of two female US journalists, saying they were detained for illegally entering North Korean territory.
  • The news came after the North restored a cross-border military hotline with South Korea severed earlier this month. The North also indicated it will reopen a border crossing which links the South with a joint Korean industrial zone, just inside the North.
  • There have been conflicting reports about where the women were detained. South Korean reports have suggested they were on Chinese territory.
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  • The now restored military hotline between the two Koreas is intended as a means of direct communication at a time of high tension. It is used to co-ordinate the movement of goods and people through the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, and in its absence officials resorted to exchanging notes by hand.
  • China has voiced its concern over the growing tensions on the Korean peninsula over North Korea's planned rocket launch. The North insists it is preparing to send up a communications satellite - and that any attempt to shoot it down would result in war. The US, Japan and South Korea have all expressed concerns that the North is actually planning to test-fire a long-range missile. North Korea is banned from firing either device under a UN Security Council resolution prohibiting it from ballistic activity.
  • The border between the two Koreas has been intermittently closed since the communication lines were cut on 9 March - when the US-South Korea drill began - stranding South Korea workers at a shared industrial estate and badly affecting businesses there. The North's move came just hours after Beijing urged North Korea to restart talks on its nuclear programme.
  • Pyongyang cut the hotline in protest at an annual US-South Korean military exercise, which it said it suspected were a prelude to an invasion.
  • China has voiced its concern over the growing tensions on the Korean peninsula over North Korea's planned rocket launch. The North insists it is preparing to send up a communications satellite - and that any attempt to shoot it down would result in war. The US, Japan and South Korea have all expressed concerns that the North is actually planning to test-fire a long-range missile.
Pedro Gonçalves

U.S. Weighs Intercepting North Korean Shipments - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...08korea.html

North Korea US China Terrorism Proliferation Security Initiative Obama Hillary Clinton Robert Gates

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 09 Jun 09 - Cached
  • The Obama administration signaled Sunday that it was seeking a way to interdict, possibly with China’s help, North Korean sea and air shipments suspected of carrying weapons or nuclear technology.
  • The administration also said it was examining whether there was a legal basis to reverse former President George W. Bush’s decision last year to remove the North from a list of states that sponsor terrorism.
  • So far it is not clear how far the Chinese are willing to go to aid the United States in stopping North Korea’s profitable trade in arms, the isolated country’s most profitable export. But the American focus on interdiction demonstrates a new and potentially far tougher approach to North Korea than both President Clinton and Mr. Bush, in his second term, took as they tried unsuccessfully to reach deals that would ultimately lead North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal. Mr. Obama, aides say, has decided that he will not offer North Korea new incentives to dismantle the nuclear complex at Yongbyon that the North previously promised to abandon.
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  • “I’m tired of buying the same horse twice,” Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said last week while touring an antimissile site in Alaska that the Bush administration built to demonstrate its preparedness to destroy North Korean missiles headed toward the United States. (So far, the North Koreans have not successfully tested a missile of sufficient range to reach the United States, though there is evidence that they may be preparing for another test of their long-range Taepodong-2 missile.)
  • In France on Saturday, Mr. Obama referred to the same string of broken deals, telling reporters, “I don’t think there should be an assumption that we will simply continue down a path in which North Korea is constantly destabilizing the region and we just react in the same ways.” He added, “We are not intending to continue a policy of rewarding provocation.”
  • While Mr. Obama was in the Middle East and Europe last week, several senior officials said the president’s national security team had all but set aside the central assumption that guided American policy toward North Korea over the past 16 years and two presidencies: that the North would be willing to ultimately abandon its small arsenal of nuclear weapons in return for some combination of oil, nuclear power plants, money, food and guarantees that the United States would not topple its government, the world’s last Stalinesque regime.
  • Now, after examining the still-inconclusive evidence about the results of North Korea’s second nuclear test, the administration has come to different conclusions: that Pyonyang’s top priority is to be recognized as a nuclear state, that it is unwilling to bargain away its weapons and that it sees tests as a way to help sell its nuclear technology.
  • While Mr. Obama is willing to reopen the six-party talks that Mr. Bush began — the other participants are Japan, South Korea, Russia and China — he has no intention, aides say, of offering new incentives to get the North to fulfill agreements from 1994, 2005 and 2008; all were recently renounced.
  • While some officials privately acknowledged that they would still like to roll back what one called North Korea’s “rudimentary” nuclear capacity, a more realistic goal is to stop the country from devising a small weapon deliverable on a short-, medium- or long-range missile.
  • In conducting any interdictions, the United States could risk open confrontation with North Korea. That prospect — and the likelihood of escalating conflict if the North resisted an inspection — is why China has balked at American proposals for a resolution by the United Nations Security Council that would explicitly allow interceptions at sea. A previous Security Council resolution, passed after the North’s first nuclear test, in 2006, allowed interdictions “consistent with international law.” But that term was never defined, and few of the provisions were enforced.
  • North Korea has repeatedly said it would regard any interdiction as an act of war, and officials in Washington have been trying to find ways to stop the shipments without a conflict. Late last week, James B. Steinberg, the deputy secretary of state, visited Beijing with a delegation of American officials, seeking ideas from China about sanctions, including financial pressure, that might force North Korea to change direction.
  • “The Chinese face a dilemma that they have always faced,” a senior administration official said. “They don’t want North Korea to become a full nuclear weapons state. But they don’t want to cause the state to collapse.”
  • To counter the Chinese concern, Mr. Steinberg and his delegation argued to the Chinese that failing to crack down on North Korea would prompt reactions that Beijing would find deeply unsettling, including a greater American military presence in the region and more calls in Japan for that country to develop its own weapons.
  • North Korea’s restoration to the list would be largely symbolic, because it already faces numerous economic sanctions.
Argos Media

N. Korea seen as using bargaining chips - CNN.com - 0 views

edition.cnn.com/...index.html

North Korea Nuclear Proliferation Siegfried Hecker Selig Harrison

shared by Argos Media on 28 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Selig Harrison, the director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy, said the North Korean announcement about restarting its nuclear facilities should come as "no surprise" to the United States. "The North Koreans had said that they were going to do this. The United States leadership made a mistake by going to the U.N. because the North Koreans said on March 26 that if we went to the U.N., they would resume their nuclear program," he said, referring to North Korea's recent decision to launch a rocket despite international opposition.
  • Harrison visited Pyongyang in January and doesn't expect North Korea to reprocess plutonium for at least a year. Nuclearization may not even be their primary goal with this latest announcement, he said. "You have to put it all into context of the North Korean situation, they want to negotiate to get economic help. All of this is a re-bargaining chip," he said. "The North Koreans are not hell-bent on nuclear weapons, this is just their opportunity, and they want to negotiate in bilateral talks with the US."
  • "The North Koreans have shut down the six-party talks, but they haven't ruled out bilateral negotiations," he said, referring to talks aimed at persuading North Korea to scrap its nuclear program. The talks involved China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States.
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  • An additional part of North Korea's re-bargaining chip may be two detained U.S. journalists, he added.
  • Harrison said the North Koreans "are hoping the United States will agree to bilateral talks in part because of the journalists they are holding, and the U.S. knows North Korea will ask something of them for the release of those journalists."
  • One of the main reasons North Korea broke off the six-party talks was because it hasn't received the energy and aid promised by other countries, Harrison said. "Japan had promised energy to North Korea that they haven't yet delivered, and this is energy that North Korea desperately needs," Harrison said. "In all, we have delivered about one-third percent of the amount of energy we had promised the North Korea."
  • Siegfried Hecker, the co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, said he believes North Korea can make bombs. "All they have to do is to extract the plutonium from the fuel rods which already exist in the cooling pool. They can now bring some of those fuel rods out and begin to take them through the reprocessing facility. It will take four to six months to reprocess all of the fuel rods. And they will be able to extract about a bomb and a half's worth of plutonium from them," Hecker explained.
  • Hecker explained that the fuel rods with the plutonium couldn't be shipped easily during the first steps of disablement of the Yongbyon plant and therefore were still intact when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors left earlier this month. "The idea was the pool holding the fuel rods would be kept under close IAEA inspection," Hecker said, "In essence, it was a pretty good hedge for the North Koreans all along...the fuel rods and the reprocessing plant were the easiest part of the Yongbyon plant to get going again," he said.
  • Hecker said restarting the reactor is a different story. Since the water cooling tower was destroyed in June 2008, Hecker said the North Koreans will likely rebuild the structure, which will take an estimated six months. He said they also need to process fresh fuel for the reactor, which will take about six months as well. "So in six months from now, they can reload the reactor. Then the reactor would have to run for about two to three years to get another two bombs worth of plutonium," he said.
Argos Media

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Tensions high in North Korea row - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...7999333.stm

North Korea Nuclear Proliferation US

shared by Argos Media on 15 Apr 09 - Cached
  • International tensions have remained high after North Korea said it was expelling UN nuclear inspectors and resuming work on its nuclear programme.
  • North Korea has said it wants to develop its space programme by 2012, which will mark 100 years since Kim Il-sung's birth. It said the launch was a step towards that goal.
  • the North insists it put a communications satellite into orbit, and reacted angrily to Monday's statement from the UN Security Council condemning the launch. It said the criticism was an "unbearable insult" which debased the North Korean people.
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  • North Korea's foreign ministry said it was quitting the long-running six party talks on its nuclear programmes and would "not be bound by any agreement reached at the talks".
  • The ministry also said it was taking steps to reactivate its partially-dismantled Yongbyon nuclear facility.
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had been instructed to remove seals and equipment from the Yongbyon reactor and that its monitors had been ordered to leave North Korea.
  • Analysts say South Korea may soon announce that it is signing up to the controversial US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) in response. Membership of the PSI would allow South Korea to intercept any ships heading for the North which are believed to be carrying weapons or other items covered by existing sanctions.
  • China and Russia - the North's neighbours and closest allies - have already urged North Korea to reconsider its decision, with Beijing calling for "calm and restraint".
  • IAEA inspectors went to North Korea following a landmark deal in February, under which it agreed to end its nuclear ambitions in return for aid and political incentives.
  • It had carried out a nuclear test in October 2006. Some progress was made - last year North Korea partially disabled its Yongbyon reactor and handed over what it said was a complete declaration of its nuclear activities. In return, the US removed North Korea from the list of countries it says sponsors terrorism. But talks have stalled in recent months, as Washington and Pyongyang accused each other of failing to meet obligations.
  • North Korea's neighbours, such as Beijing, are more concerned with maintaining its stability while the US wants to ensure Pyongyang remains at the negotiating table.
Pedro Gonçalves

North Korea warns Seoul of nuclear war following UN sanctions | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...north-korea-un-nuclear-war

North Korea South Korea US Nuclear Weapons

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 15 Jun 09 - Cached
  • North Korea has warned of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula while vowing to step up its atomic weapons programme in defiance of new UN sanctions.Today's Rodong Sinmun, a state-run North Korean newspaper, claimed the US has 1,000 nuclear weapons in South Korea. Another state-run publication claimed that America had been deploying nuclear weapons in Japan as well.
  • North Korea "is completely within the range of US nuclear attack and the Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world", the Tongil Sinbo said.
  • A spokesman at the US military command in Seoul dismissed the claims as "baseless", saying Washington had no nuclear bombs in South Korea. US tactical nuclear weapons were removed from the country in 1991 following the cold war.
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  • Yesterday, Pyongyang threatened war on any country that dared to stop its ships under the new sanctions approved by the UN security council on Friday.
  • In yesterday's statement, Pyongyang said it has been enriching uranium to provide fuel for its light-water reactor. It was the first public acknowledgment that the North is running such a programme in addition to its known plutonium one.
Pedro Gonçalves

North Korea declares all-out push for nuclear weapons | World news | guardian.co.uk - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...korea-nuclear-weapon-plutonium

North Korea US China UN Nuclear Weapons Nuclear Proliferation Plutonium

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 14 Jun 09 - Cached
  • North Korea declared it would turn its plutonium stocks into weapons material and threatened military action against the US and its allies after the UN security council imposed new sanctions to punish Pyongyang for last month's underground nuclear test.
  • The country's foreign ministry today acknowledged for the first time that North Korea was developing a uranium enrichment programme and said it would be "impossible" to abandon its nuclear ambitions.In a defiant statement, it said that "the whole amount of the newly extracted plutonium [in the country] will be weaponised" and that "more than one-third of the spent fuel rods has been reprocessed to date".The ministry said the country had successfully started a programme to enrich uranium for a light-water reactor.The warning came a few hours after the security council unanimously passed a resolution banning all weapons exports from North Korea and the import of all but small arms.
  • North Korea described the sanctions as "yet another vile product of the US-led offensive of international pressure aimed at undermining ... disarming DPRK and suffocating its economy".
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  • Unusually the resolution was unanimous, reflecting the extent of anger within the Chinese government over last month's nuclear test. Normally it is difficult for the US, Britain and France to persuade China, and to a lesser extent Russia, to take a tough line against North Korea.
  • The regime is believed to have enough plutonium for at least six nuclear bombs. It has around 8,000 spent fuel rods that if reprocessed could allow the country to harvest 6-8kg of plutonium – enough for at least one nuclear bomb, according to analysts.
  • The UN resolution authorises all countries to stop and search North Korean ships for weapons. The US, Britain and France wanted to make such inspections mandatory for all states, but China and Russia watered this down. The final resolution "calls on" states to carry out weapons searches.
  • Even so, the resolution risks standoffs between US and North Korean ships – a danger underlined by North Korea's response. "An attempted blockade of any kind by the US and its followers will be regarded as an act of war and met with a decisive military response," the regime said.
  • There was no attempt to expand the sanctions to exports and imports of non-military goods. This is partly because China and Russia would have been opposed, but also because of fears a collapse of the North Korean economy would result in a flood of refugees into South Korea.
Argos Media

Foreign Policy: Ending North Korea's Endless Nuclear Drama - 0 views

www.foreignpolicy.com/...cms.php

North Korea US Nuclear Proliferation

shared by Argos Media on 13 Apr 09 - Cached
  • the United States and its allies have had serious disagreements over North Korea. Japan is prepared to obstruct negotiations until Pyongyang comes clean on the handful of Japanese kidnapped by the North some 30 years ago. The Chinese have wanted to moderate and ultimately change North Korea through reform and sizable economic support, but have little to show for it. Many of the cognoscenti see China as the ultimate arbiter compelling North Korean cooperation. That, of course, has not happened. China has its own interest -- keeping North Korea afloat -- and that's not likely to change. The U.S. and Chinese economies are now so enmeshed that U.S. leverage on China is very limited. South Korea's "sunshine policy," which provided large-scale aid in hopes of ultimately seducing North Korea, was despised by the Bush administration. (Ironically, a new South Korean government abandoned the policy just as the United States was softening its approach to the North.)
  • The U.S. administration seems content to resume six-party talks where they left off: completing the "phase two" agreement, exchanging fuel oil for disablement of the North's plutonium facilities, and an agreement on verification, the sticking point precipitating the breakdown of negotiations. Preventing North Korea from producing more fissile material makes sense. From there, the going gets increasingly tough.
  • The weight of evidence suggests that North Korea will be unwilling to give up its nuclear weapons for a long time, if ever. The apparent North Korean interest in trading the dismantling of its plutonium facilities for light water reactors will not likely go down well in Washington. It is not much of a deal.
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  • Nuclear weapons are Kim Jong Il's trump card. They get international attention. If U.S. President Barack Obama wants to make real progress on denuclearization, he must take a more comprehensive approach with North Korea under the umbrella of the six-party talks. In addition to pursuing denuclearization, he should opt for a radical change in relations: a peace treaty for the peninsula, the normalization of all political and economic relations, and a big economic package for the North, including increasing integration into the global economy. Only a major improvement in its overall situation might lead North Korea to consider some change in course and give up its nuclear weapons.
  • There are, of course, difficulties and downsides. Heavy opposition in Washington might not be worth the cost of a highly uncertain, radically different approach. It could also be unacceptable to both South Korea and Japan, which are not eager to offer goodies to Pyongyang that might not be reciprocated. North Korea's opaqueness raises verification problems, which may be impossible to work out. And Kim Jong Il might simply not be interested in such a big-bang deal.
  • But without an approach like this, you can bank on endless, fruitless negotiations. Going down today's six-party route will also require the United States to shore up its deterrence in the area, particularly for Japan, and strengthen the antiproliferation initiative to guard against North Korean nuclear and missile exports. Enlarging the framework of negotiations looks like the only serious way of achieving a negotiated end to North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. Doing so will require lots of patience, intensive alliance management, and internal political risk with no certain result. But it's worth a shot. At a minimum, having such a package out there may be of some help should the Dear Leader depart the scene.
Pedro Gonçalves

North Korea Threatens Military Strikes on South - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...28korea.html

North Korea South Korea Nuclear Proliferation Lee Myung-bak Nuclear Weapons Proliferation Security Initiative

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 27 May 09 - Cached
  • North Korea on Wednesday threatened to launch military strikes against South Korea if any of its ships were stopped or searched as part of an American-led operation to intercept vessels suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.
  • South Korea agreed to join the global interdiction program after North Korea tested a nuclear device on Monday. The North had earlier warned the South not to participate in the effort, known as the Proliferation Security Initiative.
  • “We consider this a declaration of war against us,” an unidentified North Korean military spokesman said Wednesday in a statement carried by the North’s official news agency KCNA. “Any hostile act against our peaceful vessels including search and seizure will be considered an unpardonable infringement on our sovereignty and we will immediately respond with a powerful military strike.”
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  • Earlier Wednesday, a South Korean newspaper reported that American spy satellites had detected plumes of steam and other signs of activity at a North Korean plant that reprocesses spent nuclear fuel to make weapons-grade plutonium
  • In its statement Wednesday, the North Korean military also questioned the “legal status” of five South Korea-held islands on the countries’ disputed western sea border. The military “will not guarantee the safe navigation” for American and South Korean vessels, both military and civilian, sailing in the waters near the border, the spokesman said.
  • North Korean officials had said that South Korea’s full membership in the Proliferation Security Initiative would be seen as a “declaration of undisguised confrontation and a declaration of a war.”
  • On the phone, Mr. Lee emphasized to Mr. Obama that the United States and its allies “should not repeat the pattern” of “rewarding” North Korea’s provocations with dialogue and economic aid, as they did after the North’s first nuclear test in October 2006.
Pedro Gonçalves

Analysis - The power behind the throne in North Korea | Reuters - 0 views

uk.reuters.com/...th-power-idUKTRE7BJ0HK20111220

North Korea Jang Song-thaek

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 22 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Real power in North Korea now probably belongs to a coterie of advisers following the death of Kim Jong-il, not his youngest son, an untested man in his 20s who has been anointed the "Great Successor."
  • These advisers will decide whether North Korea launches military action against South Korea to strengthen the succession around Kim Jong-un -- or seeks a peaceful transition.
  • The most powerful adviser is Jang Song-thaek, 65, brother-in-law of Kim Jong-il.
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  • "Jang has played a considerable role during Kim Jong-il's illness of managing the succession problem and even the North's relations with the United States and China," said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies."Jang is in overall charge of the job of making it formal for Kim Jong-un to be the legal and systematic leader by pulling together the party and the military."
  • Jang had the full backing of his brother-in-law, who named him to the National Defence Commission in 2009, the supreme leadership council Kim Jong-il led as head of the military state.That appointment was part of a flurry of moves Kim Jong-il made following a stroke in 2008 which probably brought home the reality that, unlike his father at his death in 1994, he was unprepared for a trusted son to take over.
  • The commission has been the pinnacle of power in North Korea and which Kim had used to preach his own version of political teaching called Songun, or "military first."
  • The naming of Jang as a vice chairman of the commission effectively catapulted him to the second most powerful position in the country.It also put him in line to become caretaker leader of the dynastic state in the event Kim was unable to orchestrate a gradual transition of power and the grooming of Jong-un.
  • Jang, who also holds the humble title of a department chief in the ruling Workers' Party, disappeared from public for two years before returning in 2006, widely believed to have been purged then rehabilitated as part of a power struggle involving backers of Kim's second and third wives.He is considered a pragmatist who earned Kim Jong-il's trust because of his understanding of domestic politics and economic policy.
  • Few observers believe either Jang or his wife will try to push the junior Kim out and grab power for themselves."That would kindle a power struggle that will get out of control, and they will know better than to do that," said Yang of the University of North Korean Studies.
  • With the military already very powerful, there appears to be little risk of a coup or the kind of regime change seen in the Arab world this year.
  • Ri Yong-ho, the rising star of the North's military and its chief of staff, is ranked fourth on the list of funeral committee officials, an indication of the power he wields not only in the army but as Kim Jong-il's confidante in domestic politics.Ri, despite being on good terms with Jang, provides an ideal balance to the power of Kim's brother-in-law.
  • Parliament is headed by Kim Yong-nam, a loyal but passive figurehead who analysts say poses no threat to the transition
  • "The North Korean leadership is united," said Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul. "They understand that they should hang together in order not to be hanged separately."
  • Jang, his wife Kim and Vice Marshal Ri are expected to make sure Jong-un survives as the third generational leader and that North Korea holds together at least through the centenary of Kim Il-Sung's birth in 2012.
Argos Media

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China urges N Korea to talk again - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...7954221.stm

China Hu Jintao Kim Yong-il North Korea Wu Dawei

shared by Argos Media on 20 Mar 09 - Cached
  • The Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged North Korea to return to the negotiating table over its controversial nuclear programme. Mr Hu told North Korean Premier Kim Yong-il to co-operate with efforts to resume stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear activities.
  • Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Mr Kim a day earlier that China wants to "actively push forward" the deadlocked negotiations. China's chief delegate to the nuclear talks, Wu Dawei, visited North Korea without fanfare in February seeking a breakthrough, South Korean and Japanese media reported at the time. Beijing has not confirmed the trip.
  • China has been hosting the talks which had been making progress until North Korea abruptly stopped disabling its nuclear programme last August. Talks in December failed to resolve a dispute with the US over how to verify the North's full range of past nuclear activities.
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  • South Korea and the US say Pyongyang may be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile and have warned it against the launch planned for April. The North insists it is preparing to send up a communications satellite. The US, Japan and South Korea have all expressed concerns that the North is actually planning to test-fire a long-range missile. North Korea is banned from firing either device under a UN Security Council resolution prohibiting it from ballistic activity.
  • North Korean Premier Kim Yong-il - who is not related to leader Kim Jong-il - arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a five-day trip.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | US 'opposes' nuclear North Korea - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8074937.stm

US North Korea China Robert Gates

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 30 May 09 - Cached
  • The US "will not accept" a nuclear-armed North Korea, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has told an Asian summit.
  • The US "will not accept" a nuclear-armed North Korea, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has told an Asian summit.Mr Gates said the US would "not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in the region or on us".
  • Earlier, the US said activity in the North could indicate plans for a new long-range missile test.
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  • "We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in the region or on us," Mr Gates added. However, he said he did not consider North Korea to be a direct military threat to the US "at this point". He insisted the next step in negating Pyongyang's ambitions would be political, not military.
  • Some of Mr Gates' words were echoed by Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of China's People's Liberation Army. "Our stand on the issue is consistent. We are resolutely opposed to nuclear proliferation. "Our view is that the Korean peninsula should move towards denuclearisation," Mr Ma told the summit. "Our hope is that all parties concerned will remain cool-headed and take measures to address the problem."
  • Before Mr Gates spoke, defence officials in Washington said US satellite photos had revealed vehicle activity at a site in North Korea used to fire long-range missiles.
  • On Friday, Pyongyang also fired a short-range missile off its east coast, and warned of "self-defence" measures if the UN Security Council imposed sanctions over what it says was a successful nuclear test carried out earlier in the week.
  • The hardline communist state, under President Kim Jong-il, has threatened military action against the South after Seoul's decision to join a US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), under which North Korean ships could be stopped and searched. US and South Korean troops are currently on high alert after the North said it was no longer bound by the truce that ended the Korean war in 1953. Pyongyang says Seoul's decision to join the PSI is tantamount to an act of war.
Pedro Gonçalves

France 24 | North Korea agrees to talks with South Korea | France 24 - 0 views

www.france24.com/...ea-nuclear-test-missile-launch

North Korea South Korea Kaesong

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 05 Jun 09 - Cached
  • North Korea Friday agreed to hold talks with South Korea next week, Seoul officials said, amid high tensions between the two nations.    The North has accepted a proposal for working-level talks on June 11 at the Kaesong joint industrial complex just north of the border, according to South Korea's unification ministry.    South Korean and US troops have gone on heightened alert since the North staged a nuclear test in late May, renounced the armistice that ended the Korean war in the 1950s and threatened the South with possible attack.
Pedro Gonçalves

International Institute for Strategic Studies 30 May 2009 - Associated Press - Gates: T... - 0 views

www.iiss.org/...anctions-against-nkorea-needed

North Korea US Robert Gates China South Korea Lee Sang-hee Shangri-La Dialogue

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 09 Jun 09 - No Cached
  • North Korea's yearslong use of scare tactics as a bargaining chip to secure aid and other concessions — only to later renege on promises — has worn thin the patience of five nations negotiating with Pyongyang, said U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.   "They create a crisis and the rest of us pay the price to return to the status quo ante," Gates told the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual meeting of defense and security officials. "As the expression goes in the U.S., I'm tired of buying the same horse twice."   "There are other ways perhaps to get the North Koreans to change their approach," Gates said. "I think this notion that we buy our way back to the status quo ante is an approach that I personally at least think we ought to think very hard about."
  • Additionally, the U.N. Security Council is drafting financial and military sanctions against North Korea as punishment for the weapons testing.   Similar sanctions approved after Pyongyang's 2006 atomic test have been only sporadically enforced, and largely ignored by China and Russia.
  • South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said the talks "could not have come at a better time."   "North Korea perhaps to this point may have mistakenly believed that it could be perhaps rewarded for its wrong behaviors," Lee told reporters. "But that is no longer the case."
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  • Gates does not plan to build up American troops in the region, and said Saturday he currently does not consider North Korea to pose a direct military threat to the United States.
  • Mark Fitzpatrick, an expert on nonproliferation issues with the International Institute for Strategic Studies and a former top U.S. State Department official, said North Korea is likely to respond heatedly to whatever actions the U.S. and allies take to stem the weapons threat.   "North Korea's responses to date have been so far above and beyond the normal tit-for-tat," Fitzpatrick said Saturday. "If they again escalate, I think we could see some low-level conflict, some shooting incidents at sea. But then one can't say, well, we can't respond at all because North Korea might use it as a provocation. North Korea will use any response as a provocation."
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | North Korea missile tests defy UN - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8134115.stm

North Korea Military

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 04 Jul 09 - Cached
  • North Korea has test-fired a series of missiles in an apparent act of defiance on 4 July, American Independence Day.Reports say at least seven Scud-type ballistic missiles were fired, with a range of about 500km (312 miles).
  • North Korea is banned from all ballistic missile-related activities under UN sanctions imposed after a second underground nuclear test in May.
  • A South Korean defence official said Saturday's tests were of greater concern than four short-range ones on Thursday, as the missiles had longer ranges. "Thursday's missile tests were apparently made as part of a military drill but today's launches, which came on the eve of the US Independence Day, are believed to be aimed at political purposes," the official told Yonhap news agency.
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  • The missiles' estimated 500km reach - although still technically short-range - brings most of South Korea withing striking distance, our correspondent says. Japanese and South Korean media have reported that North Korea may be preparing to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.
  • Pyongyang is banned from testing ballistic missiles under UN resolutions but launched a long-range rocket in April, which many governments saw as a thinly disguised test of Taepodong-2 missile technology.
  • There are fears that North Korea is trying to produce nuclear warheads small enough to put on missiles - but experts say this appears to be several years away.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | North Korea 'fires more missiles' - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8067711.stm

North Korea South Korea Proliferation Security Initiative Nuclear Proliferation Nuclear Weapons

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 26 May 09 - Cached
  • North Korea has fired two more missiles, hours after the UN Security Council unanimously condemned its nuclear test, South Korean reports say.The communist state fired two short-range missiles off an east coast base, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an official.
  • At least three missile tests accompanied Monday's nuclear test. Those on Tuesday involved one ground-to-ship missile and one ground-to-air missile, Yonhap said.
  • Earlier, North Korea, in a statement carried by its official news agency KCNA, said it was clear America's "hostile policy" towards it had not changed.
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  • "Our army and people are fully ready for battle... against any reckless US attempt for a pre-emptive attack," it said in a piece criticising US moves to relocate its fighter jets. South Korea, meanwhile, announced it would become a full member of a US-led initiative aimed at controlling trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, despite warnings from Pyongyang.
  • Seoul announced early on Tuesday that it would delay no longer in joining the PSI - a US-led non-proliferation campaign involving searching ships carrying suspect cargo, aimed at stopping the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction. North Korea has repeatedly warned that the South's participation in the PSI would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
  • Monday's blast, which seismologists said had the power of a 4.5 magnitude earthquake, appears to have been much more powerful than North Korea's first nuclear test. Defence officials in Russia say it was an explosion of up to 20 kilotons, making it comparable to the American bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | North Korea in plutonium threat - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8098484.stm

North Korea Nuclear Weapons

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 13 Jun 09 - Cached
  • North Korea said it will "weaponise" its plutonium stocks amid threats to take military action over United Nations sanctions, state media said.Pyongyang has for the first time confirmed it is seeking to enrich uranium in efforts to develop nucealr weapons, it said. North Korea would view any US-led attempts to "blockade" it as an "act of war", the Associated Press (AP) said.
  • The UN sanctions include the inspection of North Korean ships, a wider ban on arms sales and other financial measures.
  • Korea analyst Aidan Foster Carter told the BBC Pyongyang's process was "out of control" and that nothing seemed able to persuade North Korea to stop its nuclear ambitions - neither sanctions nor financial incentives.
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  • The North Korean foreign ministry statement said: "Firstly, all plutonium to be extracted will be weaponised. One third of used fuel rods have so far been reprocessed. "Secondly, we will start uranium enrichment," the statement added.
  • He said the nuclear stand-off may be part of internal ructions as Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong-il decides which of his three sons will take over from him.
  • North Korea is thought to possess enough reprocessed plutonium for between six and eight nuclear weapons. However, analysts say Pyongyang has not yet mastered the technology to make a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a missile.
Argos Media

North Korea Says It Will Start Second Nuclear Project - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...30korea.html

North Korea Nuclear Proliferation US UN

shared by Argos Media on 29 Apr 09 - Cached
  • North Korea said on Wednesday that it will start an uranium-enrichment program, declaring for the first time that it intends to pursue a second project in addition to facilities that have provided it with plutonium for weapons.
  • The North also threatened to conduct a second nuclear test and launch an intercontinental ballistic missile unless the United Nations Security Council apologizes for its censure of the Communist state after its rocket test on April 5.
  • The Security Council adopted a unanimous statement on April 13 denouncing the launch as a violation of an earlier council resolution that banned Pyongyang from conducting nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The council called on United Nations member states to tighten sanctions _ a move that Pyongyang on Wednesday harshly criticized.
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  • "Unless the U.N. Security Council immediately apologizes, we will have no choice but to take inevitable additional self-defense measures," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman told the North’s state-run news agency, KCNA. "This will include a nuclear test and a test of a intercontinental ballistic missile."
  • The spokesman also said North Korea has decided to build new nuclear power plants. "And as the fist step of that process, we will without delay start technological development to secure our own supply of nuclear fuel," he said, referring to its intention to enrich uranium. Engineers use the same technology to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear bombs.
  • Pyongyang had earlier accused the Security Council of a "wanton violation of the United Nations charter." It insisted that when it launched its rocket on April 5, it intended to put a communications satellite into orbit, and that it was the first country to be denied a peaceful space program by the United Nations.
  • But Washington and its allies say the rocket launch was a ruse for testing the North’s latest ballistic missile technology and a violation of the 2006 Security Council resolution. That document was adopted after North Korea tested a ballistic missile in July 2006 and conducted its first nuclear test three months later.
  • Washington has long suspected North Korea of pursuing a separate program based on enriched uranium. The international agreement to freeze and eventually dismantle the plutonium-based Yongbyon program in return for providing the North with aid and diplomatic recognition faltered last year in a wrangling over how to verify the North’s past atomic activities, especially whether Pyongyang was running a clandestine uranium enrichment program.
Argos Media

North Korea to boycott nuclear weapons talks after UN condemns rocket launch | World ne... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...th-korea-boycott-nuclear-talks

North Korea Nuclear Proliferation UN

shared by Argos Media on 14 Apr 09 - Cached
  • North Korea said today it will boycott international talks on its atomic weapons programme in protest at the UN security council's condemnation of the country's rocket launch.
  • The country also said it would restart nuclear facilities it had begun to dismantle under an international deal.
  • "We have no choice but to further strengthen our nuclear deterrent to cope with additional military threats by hostile forces," the statement said
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  • The statement was the country's first reaction to the security council's unanimous condemnation yesterday of the 5 April launch, which Pyongyang says sent a satellite into space but the US and others say tested long-range missile technology.
  • The statement also said that the North "will never participate in the six-party talks" because other members "publicly denied" the spirit of the negotiations – which it said were respect of mutual equality and sovereignty - in the name of the UN security council.
  • The North said it will not be bound by any agreement signed under the talks and will restore nuclear facilities it has been disabling and will resume operating them.
  • Under a 2007 six-party deal, North Korea agreed to disable its main nuclear complex – a step toward its ultimate dismantlement – in return for 1 million tons of fuel oil and other concessions.
  • North Korea also said it will "actively consider" building a nuclear light-water reactor and reprocess spent fuel rods at a pilot atomic power plant.
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